I went to the Highland Games in Fort Wayne Saturday with my daughter. It was hotter than Hades and no sooner did we walk through the gate than it started raining. It only lasted about 10 minutes and did nothing to cool things off. This has got to be the smallest one I ever attended. We used to go to Sarnia, just over the border into Ontario. That one was awesome and huge! Unfortunately they closed it a couple of years ago.

I am officially a member of Clan Stewart now. I’m not sure how meaningful that is since they don’t actually make you prove you are descended from the house of Stewart.

What I’d like to know is how do they decide what tartan to wear when they are the Fort Wayne Police dept?

This band I found someone I know in Fort Wayne, my furnace/ac repair guy. Who knew? My daughter says I should snatch him up, what more could you want than a kilt wearing, bagpipe playing, fellow who knows how to fix things? 🙂

In all my years of going to Highland Games, this is the first time I have ever seen a pitchfork throw. Who thought of that? Is it a Hoosier thing?

Hey, don’t be thinking this is what it actually looks like, here you can pretend to be a mighty log thrower!

I wanted to buy a couple of t-shirts but instead I stuck with this little souvenir…

It’s been a while since I’ve been to one of these and this was mighty small and hot but it was still a fun time 😉

Even though I set my daughter up a blog to post her images and tales of Ireland last year, she has yet to do it. I was browsing through them and thought I’d just help myself to a few to show off here. I want to visit that land before I die! If I can’t I might just have to tell my kids that’s where they need to scatter my ashes 🙂

When Melissa saw this, she said “and that’s when I knew I loved Ireland.”

This last one I loved so much I turned it into her blog header. Gorgeous world there isn’t it?

To prove this was a literary trip Melissa is weeping over Yeats. How could you think that is a smile on her face!? No way!

I saw this a while back but a friend was talking about his dog that was a very bad sheep herder and I had to show him this. It’s truly impressive. 😉

The year’s at the spring
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hillside’s dew-pearled;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn;
God’s in His heaven –
All’s right with the world!
~Robert Browning

It’s not here yet, at least where I live, but I’m so ready.

And summer:

Very cool flash on the building of the International Space Station over the years. (click the picture)

The International Space Station (ISS) is an internationally developed research facility that is being assembled in low Earth orbit. On-orbit construction of the station began in 1998 and is scheduled for completion by 2011. The station is expected to remain in operation until at least 2015, and likely 2020. With a greater mass than that of any previous space station, the ISS can be seen from the Earth with the naked eye, and, as of 2010, is the largest artificial satellite orbiting the Earth. The ISS serves as a research laboratory that has a microgravity environment in which crews conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy and meteorology. The station has a unique environment for the testing of the spacecraft systems that will be required for missions to the Moon and Mars. The ISS is operated by Expedition crews, and has been continuously staffed since 2 November 2000, meaning the ISS program has maintained an uninterrupted human presence in space for the past 9 years and 140 days, which is approaching the current record, set aboard Mir, of 9 years and 257 days. As of 18 March 2009, the crew of Expedition 23 is aboard. ~Wikipedia

The Hubble Deep Field: The Most Important Image Ever Taken

Do you feel puny?